Tatum

This weekend we took a trip to Denver to visit our friends Victoria and Hayden. They had a baby boy, Tatum, on New Year’s Eve, and Alison has been itching to visit ever since he was born. We wanted to meet him right away, but since we have a little toddler who goes to childcare most days, we thought it would be prudent to wait until we were out of the thick of cold and flu season before planning a trip.

We headed out on Friday afternoon. Madeline was very excited to go on an adventure and fly on an airplane. It is a nice short flight to Denver, which is ideal when traveling with a toddler. Victoria and Tatum were there to pick us up, and we were so excited to meet little Tatum. He is such a chill and cute little guy. There is something so sweet about meeting your friends’ baby for the first time, especially when you have been hearing about him and seeing pictures for months.

We dropped our bags at Hayden and Victoria’s house, and they were very kind to host us. They are fabulous hosts and help us feel right at home. Visiting them is easy in the best way. We can show up with all of our bags, baby gear, snacks, and general chaos, and they somehow make it feel completely normal.

When we visit Hayden and Victoria, they like to be tourists in their own town and take us to some of the best spots in Denver. That night they had planned reservations at a great Italian restaurant, Lo Stella Ristorante. The place was excellent. They specialize in pasta that is finished in a cheese wheel after it is cooked, and after watching it happen, I immediately started wondering if I needed a cheese wheel of my own at home.

Most of us ordered something that involved the cheese wheel. Alison and Victoria had noodles with a cheese sauce made in the wheel, and I had a lamb pasta that was also run through the cheese wheel. When they got to that stage, they invited us to come over and watch them toss the pasta in the wheel. We were all very impressed. It was fun to watch, and even better to eat. The pasta was rich and delicious, and it was a great way to start the trip.

Back at their house, we put the babies to bed and then spent a couple of hours talking and catching up on everything that has been going on in our lives recently. That is one of the best parts of staying with close friends. Once the kids are asleep, you actually get a window to sit around and talk without chasing toddlers, handing out snacks, or trying to keep someone from climbing onto something.

Madeline slept decently well that first night. A couple of hours after we went to bed, she woke up and joined us in our bed. She was up around 7:00, so I got up with her and we watched Saturday morning cartoons on the iPad together while Alison slept in a bit. It was one of those sleepy, cozy vacation mornings.

Once we all got up, we had breakfast. Victoria is a great cook and spoils us with delicious homemade food. That morning she had a yogurt and açaí bar with homemade granola, along with homemade banana cinnamon muffins and piles of fresh fruit. It was very delicious. It also felt like the perfect breakfast with little kids because everyone could grab what they wanted, and Madeline was very happy with all the fruit.

After we ate, we worked on getting the kiddos all situated, which mostly meant letting Madeline spend a little more time loving on Tatum before we headed out. She was so curious about him and kept wanting to be close. She loved giving him little kisses, especially on his piggies, which is what she calls toes. It was very cute watching her try to figure out this tiny baby who was suddenly part of the group. Once everyone had been fed, changed, packed up, and sufficiently kissed, we headed out to Morrison to do some hiking.

It was about an hour drive, which gave us more time to chat. We split into two cars because with two car seats and four adults, we needed a lot of seatbelts. Hayden and I were in one car, and everyone else was in the other.

We headed to the Lair o’ the Bear area, which was beautiful. It felt good to get outside and enjoy a little bit of Colorado scenery. We hadn’t gotten too far on our walk when a thunderstorm rolled in. Once the lightning started, we knew it was time to head back. It was a good thing we did because the rain started falling at a pretty good clip once we were back at the cars. It was a short hike, but still fun, and definitely better than getting caught out on the trail in a thunderstorm with two little kids.

We headed back into Morrison and had lunch at The Hungry Goat, which was very good. After that, we headed back to Hayden and Victoria’s house. When we got back, some of their neighbor kids had a lemonade stand set up. Of course we purchased some lemonade, and then we chatted with their neighbors for a while as the kids played. They have some really cool neighbors, and it was fun to get a little glimpse of their day-to-day life.

We headed back inside and let the kiddos play while we watched the Yankees game. Madeline was loving on Tatum. She wanted to hold baby Tatum, so we propped her up in the corner of the couch and let her hold him. She was thrilled. Alison picked up Tatum and asked if mom or dad should hold Tatum, and Madeline held out her arms and said, “Madeline hold Tatum.” Of course we had to oblige. It was so cute.

It was especially sweet to see her with him because she is not exactly a baby anymore. She is busy, opinionated, and very much a toddler, but watching her hold Tatum made her seem so grown up and still so little at the same time. She was so proud of herself, and she was very gentle with him.

That night, after we put the kids to bed, we ate some of Victoria’s chocolate chip cookies with ice cream. These cookies are absolutely delectable. She nails them every time. While we enjoyed our dessert, we played a couple of games of Skyjo, which is a card game that is easy to learn and just competitive enough to keep everyone invested. After we finished playing, we stayed up for hours chatting the night away.

The next day we all slept in a bit after our late night. When we got up, we had another great breakfast, this time pancakes with powdered sugar and lemon, eggs, and smoothies. The weather wasn’t looking so great, so after brekkie we decided to head to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

Right now, Mads is way into dinosaurs, and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science had plenty of dinosaurs. We had to hit the dinosaur wing first. It is always fun seeing something through Madeline’s eyes when she is in a phase like this. Dinosaurs are very exciting at our house right now, so getting to walk through a museum full of fossils and giant skeletons was right up her alley.

We also visited their special exhibit, The World’s Largest Dinosaurs. It was all about sauropods, the massive long-necked dinosaurs that were the largest land animals to ever live. The exhibit focused on how their huge size affected everything about them, from how they ate and breathed to how their bodies worked. It was a cool way to think about dinosaurs beyond just “that one is really big,” although, to be fair, that was also a big part of the appeal for Madeline. She was very happy to be surrounded by dinosaurs.

The exhibit was great, but we were all hungry, so we got a little snack at the cafeteria. Then we hit a few more exhibits. I wanted to see the mummies, and of course we had to see the birds. With Mads, birds are always worth seeing. Then we made one last pit stop at the bears and other mammals before heading out.

After the museum, we walked around City Park. It was an amazing park. It is right by the museum and the Denver Zoo, and it has that classic big-city-park feeling with open grass, water, trees, playground areas, and beautiful views. There were some great swings and a nice lake, so we let the kids enjoy being outside for a bit after spending the morning in the museum.

We also saw a lot of cool birds, including geese, a pelican, and a cormorant. Mads loves animals, so between the dinosaurs, birds, bears, and real-life birds at the park, this ended up being a very strong day for her interests. It was fantastic. We had a lot of fun just hanging out and enjoying the afternoon together.

On our way back, we picked up some pizza from Anthony’s. After a full day of dinosaurs, museum exhibits, City Park, and playground time, pizza was exactly the right call. Both kids were tired, so we made sure they got an early bedtime. After they were down, the adults played another round of Skyjo. We couldn’t stay up quite as late because we had an early morning flight, but it was still nice to have one more quiet night together.

On Monday morning, we woke up at 3:00 to catch our flight home. Early flights are always a bit brutal, but in this case it was worth it to have that extra time with our friends. Madeline was a trooper and slept most of the flight. Then we got home and went straight back into real life with work and daycare.

It was a fabulous weekend with our good friends. We were so excited to meet their sweet baby boy and spend time talking about life, careers, relationships, parenting, and everything in between. Every time we spend time with Hayden and Victoria, we pick up right where we left off, as if no time has passed at all. It is such a gift to have an easy friendship like that.

This trip was really about meeting Tatum, but it was also about making time for people we love. We got pasta tossed in a cheese wheel, a short and stormy Colorado hike, homemade breakfasts, lemonade from the neighbor kids, dinosaurs, City Park, pizza, late-night games, and hours of conversation. It was a quick weekend, but a full one, and we came home tired in the way you hope to be after a good trip.